If you would like to ask Christine Kringle, or any member of the Yule Dynasty, a question, please send an email to christine@christinekringle.com. Sorry but Christine cannot answer your questions personally but she will post interesting letters and answers on the website. Also, if you have read the book and would like to send her a review, please email the review to the same email address.
LETTERS
Dear Christine,
There seem to be some countries missing from the Yule Dynasty list in the front of the book. I have a pen friend in Chile and I know that she gets a visit from Santa Claus. Why isn’t he on the list?
Susan MacDonald, England.
There seem to be some countries missing from the Yule Dynasty list in the front of the book. I have a pen friend in Chile and I know that she gets a visit from Santa Claus. Why isn’t he on the list?
Susan MacDonald, England.
Dear Susan,
That is a very good question. There is a rule in the Yule Dynasty that a Yule Gift Bringer has to serve an apprenticeship of 50 years before his full membership of the Dynasty is accepted. The only exception to that rule is where a country had a Yule Gift Bringer before the government of the country abolished Christmas celebrations – like in the old Soviet Union. Some of the members of the Old Soviet Union had their full membership re-instated when the Soviet Union split up.
In fact, there are a great many countries that are being granted full membership at the 2008 Yule Conference.
Pa has given me a list:
That is a very good question. There is a rule in the Yule Dynasty that a Yule Gift Bringer has to serve an apprenticeship of 50 years before his full membership of the Dynasty is accepted. The only exception to that rule is where a country had a Yule Gift Bringer before the government of the country abolished Christmas celebrations – like in the old Soviet Union. Some of the members of the Old Soviet Union had their full membership re-instated when the Soviet Union split up.
In fact, there are a great many countries that are being granted full membership at the 2008 Yule Conference.
Pa has given me a list:
I hope that answers your question! Pa says that there will also be some new apprentices nominated at the next Yule Conference – but he’s not sure what countries they will be from yet.
Christine.
Dear Christine,
What does Ma Kringle do on Christmas Eve?
David Pullen, Michigan, USA.
What does Ma Kringle do on Christmas Eve?
David Pullen, Michigan, USA.
Dear David,
I’m going to let Ma herself answer that one!
Christine.
Dear David,
Well, although I don’t actually deliver gifts on Christmas Eve in the USA, I have lots of responsibilities before and after Christmas Eve. Firstly, I have to get my husband prepared! He has to have a light meal about four o’clock in the afternoon and he can’t have anything else to eat after that because transmogrifying up and down millions of chimneys can affect the stomach and he could be sick if he ate right before he went on his rounds. Then I have to make sure that all his clothes are dusted with flying reindeer hair. This makes his clothes wind-resistant when he is up at high altitudes and moving very fast. The elves groom the reindeer the day before and collect all the dander (the fine under-hair from their coats) in a bag and give it to me. Then, when Pa Kringle has gone, I go to bed very early, because I have to get up very early on Christmas Day – before dawn – run him a hot bath and cook him the most enormous breakfast, because he is starving when he gets back.
Pa sleeps until the evening of Christmas Day, when we have our own family celebration with all the elves. Of course, while Pa is sleeping, I’m slaving over a hot stove making a huge Christmas dinner for everyone.
It’s really after Christmas Day that my work begins. Pa Kringle comes back with millions of carrots every year - which kind children have left out for the reindeer. Well, of course, the reindeer could never eat all of those carrots, so we put some by for them, for winter feed, then, with the rest of the carrots, the elves and I spend the next three weeks making gallons or carrot and coriander soup and tons of frosted carrot cakes. We then distribute these to all the hospitals in the USA and they give them to the patients throughout January. So, David, as you can see, I am tremendously busy around Christmas!
Ma Kringle
I’m going to let Ma herself answer that one!
Christine.
Dear David,
Well, although I don’t actually deliver gifts on Christmas Eve in the USA, I have lots of responsibilities before and after Christmas Eve. Firstly, I have to get my husband prepared! He has to have a light meal about four o’clock in the afternoon and he can’t have anything else to eat after that because transmogrifying up and down millions of chimneys can affect the stomach and he could be sick if he ate right before he went on his rounds. Then I have to make sure that all his clothes are dusted with flying reindeer hair. This makes his clothes wind-resistant when he is up at high altitudes and moving very fast. The elves groom the reindeer the day before and collect all the dander (the fine under-hair from their coats) in a bag and give it to me. Then, when Pa Kringle has gone, I go to bed very early, because I have to get up very early on Christmas Day – before dawn – run him a hot bath and cook him the most enormous breakfast, because he is starving when he gets back.
Pa sleeps until the evening of Christmas Day, when we have our own family celebration with all the elves. Of course, while Pa is sleeping, I’m slaving over a hot stove making a huge Christmas dinner for everyone.
It’s really after Christmas Day that my work begins. Pa Kringle comes back with millions of carrots every year - which kind children have left out for the reindeer. Well, of course, the reindeer could never eat all of those carrots, so we put some by for them, for winter feed, then, with the rest of the carrots, the elves and I spend the next three weeks making gallons or carrot and coriander soup and tons of frosted carrot cakes. We then distribute these to all the hospitals in the USA and they give them to the patients throughout January. So, David, as you can see, I am tremendously busy around Christmas!
Ma Kringle
REVIEWS
Sally Roddom
Books and Musing from Downunder and Reviewer’s Choice in Australia
Sally's Review
Sally's Blog
Legend has Santa flying around the whole world in a single night delivering presents to every good child. Santa has different names in different countries. In Brazil the children call him Papai Noel and in Japan he is known as Santa Kurohsu. However, as with many legends there is an element of truth, and a lot of untruth. The untruth in the case of Santa is that he is not a single immortal being at all. The truth is he is one of over seventy different Gift Bringers who each service their own country and has their own name, passed down from father to son. Each of the Santa families belongs to the organisation known as the Yule Dynasty.
Each year the Yule Dynasty holds a conference. This year’s conference is being held in Finland. The Kringles from the USA are flying to the conference with an important request to put before the meeting. They want the rules changed so that their daughter, Christine, can be Santa when it is time to pass the mantle on. Kriss Kringle knows that it will be no easy task; but there are already some female gift bringers, St Lucy, Babushka and Tant Arie to name a few, whom he hopes will back his request.
However, before his request can be ruled on, disaster strikes when the small English town of Plinksbury bans Christmas completely. While the Yule Dynasty Meeting goes into disaster mode to come up with a plan, Kriss arranges for his daughter to visit the town and solve the problem to prove that females can make good Santas too. What follows is a wonderful magical adventure for Christine and her friends Nick (son of the English Santa) and Little K (son of the Japanese Santa). Can they convert the drab, unhappy town from hopelessness to celebration? They only have a few days to do it before the Yule Dynasty members notice what they are up to and try to stop them.
CHRISTINE KRINGLE, the first in a proposed series, is for young adults – and for not so young adults. Christine Kringle is a wonderful character, not a simpering miss at all. A young teenager, she is well mannered and polite, but no goodie two shoes either. She devises a plan using a fruit pie and a Ferrari which will make the car enthusiast in you cry, and the child in you howl with laughter. I could not put this book down. I was entranced from the word go and so disappointed when I finally finished. Not, I hasten to add, because the ending was disappointing - no way. I was upset because it had finished. Author Lynn Brittney is already writing Book Two, and there is enough scope for these adventures to continue in many different countries of the world.
CHRISTINE KRINGLE is a great adventure story, with non-stop action, laugh out loud situations and is full of the spirit and magic of Christmas.
Each year the Yule Dynasty holds a conference. This year’s conference is being held in Finland. The Kringles from the USA are flying to the conference with an important request to put before the meeting. They want the rules changed so that their daughter, Christine, can be Santa when it is time to pass the mantle on. Kriss Kringle knows that it will be no easy task; but there are already some female gift bringers, St Lucy, Babushka and Tant Arie to name a few, whom he hopes will back his request.
However, before his request can be ruled on, disaster strikes when the small English town of Plinksbury bans Christmas completely. While the Yule Dynasty Meeting goes into disaster mode to come up with a plan, Kriss arranges for his daughter to visit the town and solve the problem to prove that females can make good Santas too. What follows is a wonderful magical adventure for Christine and her friends Nick (son of the English Santa) and Little K (son of the Japanese Santa). Can they convert the drab, unhappy town from hopelessness to celebration? They only have a few days to do it before the Yule Dynasty members notice what they are up to and try to stop them.
CHRISTINE KRINGLE, the first in a proposed series, is for young adults – and for not so young adults. Christine Kringle is a wonderful character, not a simpering miss at all. A young teenager, she is well mannered and polite, but no goodie two shoes either. She devises a plan using a fruit pie and a Ferrari which will make the car enthusiast in you cry, and the child in you howl with laughter. I could not put this book down. I was entranced from the word go and so disappointed when I finally finished. Not, I hasten to add, because the ending was disappointing - no way. I was upset because it had finished. Author Lynn Brittney is already writing Book Two, and there is enough scope for these adventures to continue in many different countries of the world.
CHRISTINE KRINGLE is a great adventure story, with non-stop action, laugh out loud situations and is full of the spirit and magic of Christmas.
Natalie
Cookie Booky, USA
Cookie Booky Blog
As the story of Christine Kringle opens, the Yule Dynasty is having its annual conference. At this meeting, all sorts of information and decisions regarding the Christmas holiday are made by the members of the Yule Dynasty who are the holiday gift bringers from all over the world.
Kriss Kringle is coming to the conference with a bit of trepidation. It has always been the Yules tradition that the male heir is next in line to carry on the work of gift bringer. But Pa and Ma Kringle only have a girl, Christine. The Yules have always said that if there is only a girl then she should be married and the son-in-law becomes the gift bringer. But the Kringles don't agree. They feel that Christine and other girls in her situation should be allowed to carry on the family work. With support of many members of the dynasty, the Kringles are in for a bit of a debate.
Unfortunately, the conference is interrupted by the news that a town in England has banned Christmas. If Christine and her friends can help, perhaps the Yules will see that females can manage the job just as well as the males have done all these years.
It was interesting to note that the issue of sexism is a two-way street with each gender having their own ideas about the other. Perhaps this story is a good way to open the dialogue with young people.
This is a charming, well-written story that adds all sorts of new twists to the age old Christmas story. I liked learning about Christmas and the holiday season in other cultures. I enjoyed most the way it included people of different religions. Also the new technology that the author devised to update the Christmas story was terrific. This is an enjoyable read for the holidays or anytime!
Kriss Kringle is coming to the conference with a bit of trepidation. It has always been the Yules tradition that the male heir is next in line to carry on the work of gift bringer. But Pa and Ma Kringle only have a girl, Christine. The Yules have always said that if there is only a girl then she should be married and the son-in-law becomes the gift bringer. But the Kringles don't agree. They feel that Christine and other girls in her situation should be allowed to carry on the family work. With support of many members of the dynasty, the Kringles are in for a bit of a debate.
Unfortunately, the conference is interrupted by the news that a town in England has banned Christmas. If Christine and her friends can help, perhaps the Yules will see that females can manage the job just as well as the males have done all these years.
It was interesting to note that the issue of sexism is a two-way street with each gender having their own ideas about the other. Perhaps this story is a good way to open the dialogue with young people.
This is a charming, well-written story that adds all sorts of new twists to the age old Christmas story. I liked learning about Christmas and the holiday season in other cultures. I enjoyed most the way it included people of different religions. Also the new technology that the author devised to update the Christmas story was terrific. This is an enjoyable read for the holidays or anytime!